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[Video] GNU and Linux Everywhere (Except by Name)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 29, 2024

Video download link | md5sum 564381762f186edcaedce0b4a52578f0
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THE publicly-accessible Web surveyors that are available (and still exist; some have perished) tell us that close to 45% of Web requests come from Android devices. Android uses the Linux kernel and it's AOSP (OS for Open Source) with proprietary "apps" on top, so there's good news but also bad news.

Where does the mainstream media stand on all this? Well, it is getting to the point where the media is so bad that any time it doesn't blame "Linux" (by name) for some security incident it is almost immediately implied that it's Windows (but not mentioned by name). An associate remarks that Microsoft "has been trying to make "Windows (r)" synonymous with home computing and work computing for almost 20 years. The press is just playing along. Note that the big box stores have only Windows crap but neither Microsoft nor Windows is mentioned anywhere at all, not on the computer, not next to them, not on the display placards."

This point is discussed in the video above. In a sense, to be 'fair', Android is becoming a lot like that, and it's not controlled by Microsoft, only attacked by Microsoft using software patents (or, in some cases, Microsoft threatens OEMs with lawsuits unless they bundle Microsoft, preloading Android with Microsoft spyware). Microsoft is exceptionally evil in that regard.

Nowadays, when people walk into stores and look for a computer that's not a laptop or desktop (i.e. typically some phone or tablet), unless it runs iOS (and it's an Apple Store), then Android is simply assumed. Microsoft isn't even in the cards.

Depending on the country, it's possible that even a section exists for "Chromebooks (also no Microsoft) and maybe one for "Macs" (Apple but not inside an Apple Store).

But why is Android the only prevalent choice? It didn't have to be this way, but Microsoft killed Nokia. As the associate put it: "Microsoft killed the Linux based alternative at Nokia a while back. So with mobiles, it really is Android or iOS except for a statistically insignificant number of SailfishOS devices and Graphene devices."

What Microsoft did was recalled in the latest batch of Daily Links, e.g.

Even some mainstream media wrote about it ("Finnish flap! Elop's $25.5M bonus causing stir - Puget Sound Business Journal").

Lots of relevant details (in the Ahonen links above) explain why we ended up with Linux everywhere, but mostly in Android clothing. Ahonen's work "is very rich in information and details," the associate says.

In a sense, Linux already has over 50% of the world's "OS" market (as in operating system, not Open Source), but we're still far from Software Freedom for ordinary users.

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